Completing the circle: End of life care with Aboriginal families

Last Updated: February 5, 2014

(Principal Investigator)

Although palliative and end-of-life care is a growing area of research, literature has shown that end-of-life services based on palliative care philosophy are underutilized by ethnic minorities due to cultural barriers. For Aboriginal families, there is a particular challenge in the form of high mortality rates and a fast-growing population. This research program will enhance awareness among non-Aboriginal health care providers of culturally appropriate end-of-life health care for Aboriginal families, as well as increase awareness among Aboriginal families of existing resources and traditional end-of-life protocol.

Goals / Outcomes: A series of videos documenting traditional Aboriginal end-of-life knowledge and protocol are being produced that will provide the foundation for developing an Aboriginal unit in the Bereavement Centre of Excellence in Regina. To date five videos have been produced and funding has been received to disseminate an additional three. The videos comprise messages from Aboriginal Elders about the importance of cultural protocol at end-of-life. SPHERU has a short video that gives a good overview of the project.